‘I told them about my family. Three sisters, all younger than me. I had no idea what had happened to them. I said I wanted to go look for them. See if maybe they were safe back home somewhere. I mean, I didn’t expect much, it was a way long shot, but it was something to do, somewhere to go. What was the alternative? To stay there and wait till we either starved to death or were attacked by a group of grown-ups wanting to finish what they’d started. I told the others they could either come with me or stay there, it was up to them.

‘Susannah just shrugged again; nothing seemed to be a big deal to her. It was like she had something missing. Andy said he wanted to come, but we’d have to help him with his wheelchair. He’d had an electric one before, but when his batteries had run down there was no way of recharging them. So now he had a fold-up one that we had to push for him. It was a bit rickety.

‘And Henry? Well, Henry just did what he was told.’

‘Where was your home?’ asked Ella. ‘Was it nearby?’

‘No. Rowhurst was a boarding school. I had to do a load of exams to get in. It was my dad’s idea. He couldn’t really afford it, to tell you the truth, but he always said he wanted the best for me. He wanted me to be a doctor or a scientist. “Something proper,” he always said. My dad worked at Heathrow, at the airport. Mum was an office cleaner. But Dad had been buying cheap properties to rent out around Slough, and I think he had some family money. I hated it at first, being away from my family, but I guess I got used to it. I grew up in Slough. It’s not far from here, as it goes.’

‘I remember Slough,’ said Ella. ‘We came past it when we drove out of London. I remember saying that it sounded like a horrible place.’

‘Yeah. Imagine growing up in a place called Slough.’ Malik laughed sourly in the dark. ‘It’s not totally horrible, though. I mean, it’s not exactly great, it’s just … Slough. Bad name, I know. It’s about sixty miles from Rowhurst to here. Andy said the average human walking speed was three miles an hour. So we figured it would take us about twenty hours, give or take a bit. If we pushed ourselves we could do maybe ten miles a day. Get to Slough in a week.